Dark Descent (Vampire Hunter Book 5) (6 page)

Not only did my
parents notice that I was MIA for an hour, they were waiting for me, arms
folded, side-by-side on the couch, when I arrived home.

“You guys are up
early,” I said, linking my hands behind my back in an attempt to hide my mom’s
keys.

“We were thinking
the same thing about you,” my mom said. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard a
car – which I soon realized was
my
car – start at five
o’clock this morning.”

“I didn’t want to
worry you,” I said innocently. “I had to go meet a friend.”

“First you
disappear yesterday morning and are gone for half the day without telling us
anything; now you’re up at five on a Sunday to visit a friend?” my dad asked.
“Aurora, it doesn’t make sense. I’ve tried to give you the benefit of the
doubt. Hell, I’ve even
defended
your behavior, but this is the last
straw.”

Uh-oh.

“And what
friend
is this?” Mom demanded.

“If you
must
know,”
I said, my mind racing, “I had to pick up Kelly from a party. She drank too
much. You wouldn’t want me to let one of my best friends drink and drive, now
would you?!”

“Who is Kelly?”
Mom asked suspiciously.

The first name
that popped into my head.

“New friend at
school,” I said nonchalantly. “I know you guys are worried about me, but I’m
flourishing.
Seriously.”
Yeah, right.

My dad’s
expression had softened. I was at least starting to win
him
over.

But Mom wasn’t
buying it. “Why is it that the only friends I ever see you with are Henry and
Lucas? And what do you really know about Lucas? If you’re that close to him,
I’d like to meet his parents. Especially if he’s your boyfriend now.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!
And I’m not
that close
to him, as you put it,” I replied. “Besides, I’ve
met his parents loads of times! They’re all normal. No dead bodies in the
basement. I checked.” I laughed at my own dumb joke, hoping to crack my mom’s
icy exterior.

But Mom just
sighed. “I don’t feel like I know you anymore, Aurora,” she said sadly.

“I’ve just been
really busy with school,” I tried again.

“I didn’t know you
before
school started back,” she countered. “Ever since you came home,
you’ve been different. And don’t try to deny it. I’m not crazy.”

I stood there,
looking at my parents in silence. What was there to say? I could never tell
them the truth.

Finally, my dad
spoke. “We’re not going to ground you, not this time. But you’ll have to earn
our trust back. And we need to know your friends. Bring them around
occasionally!”

“And,” my mom
added, “I don’t care if a friend is in danger. You wake me up to go get her!
You don’t go out on your own,
without a license.
Do you understand?”

I nodded solemnly.
“Yes, I absolutely
promise
that I won’t do something like this
ever
again.
”

“Okay,” my mom
said. “We’ll give you one more chance. But there is a condition.”

Great. They
want to send me to a shrink.

“We want you to go
to therapy,” Dad said, confirming my fear.

“That’s really not
necessary,” I argued.

“Yes, it is
necessary,” he said firmly.

“You can’t make me
go.” My voice was shrill.

“Aurora, if you
don’t want to talk about your troubles with us, that’s fine. But you need to
talk to someone,” Mom said.

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s
worked out
so
well with Kayla,” I said sarcastically.

“She’s much better
now,” Dad insisted.

More like she’s
figured out how to keep you two off her back.
Kayla was probably doing the
bare minimum it took for them to leave her alone.

Well, I’d just
have to follow suit. If my mom wanted to shoot the breeze every evening I’d act
super interested.

“Okay,” I said,
looking down at my hands as though I was embarrassed about what I was going to
say next. “I’ll admit it, I’ve been a little depressed lately.”

My mom’s face
registered surprise.
She can’t believe I’m opening up about something.

“That’s why I
spend so much time in my room,” I continued. “Sometimes it’s hard...watching
all of you act like a normal family. I can’t sit down and enjoy dinner, do
normal things, have normal interaction. And I’m acutely aware that I’m not
physically
growing any older. It’s just depressing, that’s all. I feel like a freak,”
I added, for good measure.

“Oh, sweetheart,”
Mom said, getting up off the couch and coming over to hug me. “We had no idea
you felt that way. Of course you’re not a freak. You’re our daughter, and we
love you very much. You should never feel like an outsider in our family.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I
feigned relief. It was actually true – I did feel like an outsider
– but that wasn’t what was making me depressed.

“And I really
don’t want to go to a therapist,” I said. “I couldn’t talk about this stuff with
one. They’d think I was mental and start doing medical tests on me. They’d
probably take me away from home, donate me to science or something, once they
realized I was telling the truth.”

This was perfect.
If my parents believed the sole cause of how distant I’d been lately was
because I felt like a freak, they could never send me to therapy to work
through it.

I could see my
parents exchanging glances. “I guess,” my mom said slowly. “You’re right, of
course, that you can’t talk to a therapist about your unique situation.”

“But I feel so
much better knowing that I can talk to you guys,” I said with fake
enthusiasm.  

Mom wasn’t quite
ready to back down yet. “I mean it, Aurora,” she warned me. “If you sneak out
again or start hiding things from us, you will be grounded. And we
will
revisit the therapy option.”

I nodded
vigorously. “I get the message, loud and clear,” I assured her. “Did you want
to talk any more?” I asked. “It’s just, I’m crazy tired after having to get up
so early to help – “ I paused.
Shit. What was my fake friend’s name? “
Kelly,”
I finished.

“Get some rest,”
Dad said.

I flashed him a
relieved smile and headed up to my room.

Disaster
averted…for now.

Lucas didn’t call
me until around noon. I picked up the phone on the first ring. “Everything
okay?” I asked worriedly.

“Yes,” Lucas said.
“I’m happy to report that Henry is looking
almost
normal. He’s in the
shower right now.”

“Wow!” I
exclaimed. “So he’s actually able to get up, walk around?”

“He said he’s
tired,” Lucas replied. “But his coloring has returned to normal. He had a lot
of questions; he doesn’t remember much of anything. I’m not even sure he knows
you were here earlier this morning.”

“What did you tell
him?”

“The truth. That
you saved him from being turned. That he needed medicine all night to live.”
Lucas paused. “I didn’t disclose the potential
issues
with being bitten.
I figured he had enough on his mind.”

“Okay,” I said.
“We’ll just see how it goes. I’m not going to say anything, unless Henry
notices that something is different. But he may not have any problems, right?”

“Maybe,” Lucas
hedged. He sighed. “Honestly, I don’t fucking know. I haven’t dealt with this
before.”

“We’ll just take
it one day at a time,” I assured him. Lucas was exhausted. No reason to push him.

“Can I come over
now?” I asked.

“Yes, when Henry’s
out of the shower, I’ll come and get you. I think he’s fine to be alone.”

We said goodbye
and hung up the phone.

Now to deal with
my parents, who were watching me like hawks.

When I got
downstairs, Mom was in the kitchen. “I’m just about to go shopping,” she said
when she saw me. “Want to come with me? Keep me company?” Mom smiled.

 “Gee, Mom,
I’d love it. I really would. But Henry called and woke me up.” I paused and
gave an exaggerated yawn. “He and Lucas are hanging out at Lucas’ house, and
they invited me over.” That was true – sort of.

“Really?” Mom
asked in surprise. “I didn’t know they were friends.”

“Yeah, they got to
know each other because of me,” I explained.

“It’s not…awkward,
you hanging out with both of them together?” Mom pressed.

“Not at all!” I
said enthusiastically. “They both love basketball. They became instant
friends.”
So much for trying to stick to the truth.

I expected Mom to
let me off the hook, but she wasn’t done interrogating me yet. “Will Lucas’
parents be there?”

“Yes,” I said
immediately.

“What time will
you be home?”

“A few hours? Is
that okay? I can text you if that changes,” I quickly added.

“What are you
doing at Lucas’ house?”

I tried to think
of something half plausible. “Lucas has a basketball net at his house,” I
finally said. “They’re shooting hoops for a while, then we’ll probably go get
something to eat. Well, they will,” I corrected myself.

My mom nodded
slowly. “You can go, but if you’ll be more than two hours, let me know.”

“Definitely,” I
promised. I walked towards the door, trying to make my escape. Lucas would be
here any minute!

“One more
question,” Mom said.

I stifled a groan
and turned back around. “Yes?” I asked.

“How are you
getting there? I could drop you off on the way to the grocery store. Then I
could meet Lucas’ parents.”

“No,” I said, a
little too forcefully. “That won’t work. Lucas is already en route.”

“Then he can come
in and say hello,” Mom said lightly.

I wanted to
scream. I was almost an adult, yet I was being treated like a child. A child
incapable of selecting her own friends, unable to be trusted.

“Fine,” I managed
to say through gritted teeth.

It was just a moment
later that I heard a text on my phone – my new secure one – from
Lucas. I turned away from my mother and glanced at the display, praying she
hadn’t seen the phone.

Here
the
message read.

You have to
come say hello to my mom
I quickly typed. I shoved the phone into my pocket
and turned back around to face my mother.

 “Is Lucas
here to pick you up?” Mom asked me.

“Yes. He’s coming
in, per your request,” I said, hoping the sarcasm in my voice wasn’t too
obvious.

I walked to the
front door and pulled it open just as Lucas was about to knock. “Come on in,” I
said.
I’m inviting a vampire into my house.
I stifled a laugh. Lucas
gave me a faint smile and stepped into the room.

“Lucas, it’s nice
to see you again,” Mom said.

“Yes, nice to see
you, too, Audrey,” Lucas replied. He stood there awkwardly, his hands jammed
into the pockets of his black trench coat. His eyes looked heavy. But of course
they would be; he hadn’t slept in over a day.

“Are you feeling
alright?” Mom asked him. “It’s awfully hot out for such a heavy coat.”

“Oh, it’s a lot lighter
than it looks,” Lucas replied.

“So, Lucas,” Mom
started, “Aurora says you and Henry play basketball together? Are you on the
team at your school?”

“Yes, I am,” Lucas
said smoothly.

My mom nodded,
apparently satisfied with that lie. “What do your parents do? For such a close
friend of Aurora’s, she hasn’t told us much about you.”

Lucas didn’t
hesitate. “My dad’s an accountant and my mother is a real estate agent,” he
replied.

“Well, I’d love to
meet them sometime,” Mom said.

“Of course. I’m
sure they would love to meet you as well,” Lucas said politely.

“Can we go, Mom?”
I asked impatiently. “Henry’s waiting for us.”

“Yes, go ahead,
honey. When you’re ready to come home, call me. If you want, I can pick you up.
You know, save Lucas a trip.”

“Thanks for the
offer,” I said.

“Sorry about
that,” I told Lucas when we got into his car.

“I take it she
noticed your little
excursion
this morning.”

“Yeah,” I said
morosely. “I thought I was already on lock down. But now they’re one step away
from grounding me. And sending me to therapy.” I groaned. “This is the last
thing I need to deal with right now!”

“Well, sounds like
you’ve got a couple of hours. No time to waste. What was the catch with
Emmett’s plan? The part that Henry can’t know about,” Lucas asked.

“Guess,” I
muttered. “It involves his dad, as usual.”

I filled Lucas in
on the other stuff that Emmett had told us, how Mr. Matthews intended to double
cross Tobias.

“That’s why I need
to act fast – arrange the meeting with Tobias as soon as possible,” I
explained. “Before Henry’s dad tries to make a power move.”

“I can find out
where Tobias is, but I’m still dead against you going alone.”

“Well, you can’t
pose as my bodyguard for every meeting!” I said in exasperation. “Besides,
Tobias needs me. He’s not trying to kill me.”

We arrived at
Lucas’ apartment. “Do you think Henry can handle hearing about the plan?” I
asked worriedly. “I don’t want to overload him, if he’s still weak.”

“You’ll be able to
decide for yourself in a minute,” Lucas said, unlocking the door.

Henry was sitting
on the couch, watching TV. He clicked the mute button as we walked into the
room.

“I’m so happy
you’re okay,” I said, practically attacking Henry with a hug.

“I’m fine,” he
said, laughing, hugging me back. “Thanks for saving my life. Both of you,” he
added, looking at Lucas and me. I hugged Henry again and then sat down on the
couch next to him.

“I put you in this
situation. Your life was at risk because of me. How can you ever forgive me?”

“Rory, it’s not
your fault,” he said softly. “There’s nothing to forgive. Lucas told me you
staked those bastards. How the hell did you overpower them? No offense, but I’m
a lot stronger than you and I didn’t stand a fighting chance.”

“I have no idea,”
I said honestly. “Something came over me, and it wasn’t even much of a
struggle.”

“It’s got to be
your powers – at least part of them,” Henry said excitedly. “When it came
down to life or death, they kicked in, you were able to hone them. I’m not
saying what happened is a good thing, but maybe it wasn’t all in vain.”

“He’s right,”
Lucas interjected.

“I wonder if I
could kill a demon now, too?” I whispered.

“There’s only one
way to find out,” Henry said.

I shuddered.
What
if I’m not ready?

“How are you
feeling?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Normal. A little
bit tired,” Henry said.

“Before I came to
pick you up, I got him some human food,” Lucas told me.

I laughed. “That’s
what Nicholas called it when he got Emmett a pizza.”

“Huh?” Henry asked
in confusion. “What’s going on with Emmett? What all did I miss?”

Lucas and I
exchanged a glance. “Emmett has a plan,” I said. “But before I tell Henry, does
Emmett know that he’s okay?” I directed the question at Lucas.

“Yes, I contacted
him and Nicholas.”

“Good.” I proceeded
to tell Henry what had happened with Emmett while he was passed out.

“Absolutely not,”
he said when I got to the part about meeting Tobias alone.

Lucas sighed.
“I’ve already tried, Henry. She won’t listen.”

“I’ll go with
you,” Henry offered. “That’s the only way I’ll agree to this.”

Henry going with
me was worse than Lucas! Tobias would surely recognize him and might even be
dumb enough to mention Henry’s father.

“No, it’s too
dangerous for you,” Lucas said before I could answer. “You’re mortal. I’m not.
I already told Aurora that I should go with her.”

“Tobias is likely
to get suspicious if I’m not alone. He has to think I’m working solely with
him,” I argued.

Neither Henry nor
Lucas said anything.

“We’ve got to get
Magnus, Leon and Tobias out of the way to focus on Senara,” I said. “You know
I’m right.”

“I guess I need to
set up another meeting with Magnus,” Lucas said. He sounded defeated, resigned.
“At least I
can
go with you to that one.”

“Thanks,” I
replied.

“And meanwhile,
I’ll have Nic look into where Tobias is hiding,” Lucas continued.

“How will he be
able to find out?” Henry wanted to know.

By spying on
your father.

“He’s got a
network of resources,” Lucas replied, not missing a beat – and also not
exactly answering the question. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Don’t worry about
that part,” I said to Henry. “Let Nicholas deal with it. But what about the
spell to close the gates? Do you think you can do it?” I had purposefully not
told Henry that Emmett had said he was the
only
warlock capable of
permanently closing the gates.

“I’ll have to read
my book. It doesn’t sound like a beginner’s spell, though,” he said nervously.
“Ad I’m definitely a beginner.”

“Emmett’s certain
you can do it, and he hasn’t been wrong yet,” I tried to reassure Henry.

“I’m more
concerned about getting all of the stuff for the spell than doing the actual
spell,” Henry said. “Some of the more complex ones have
a lot
of really
rare ingredients.”

“I’m not sure the
spell is going to be in that book of yours,” Lucas commented.

“Then how would I
get it?” Henry looked skeptical. “This just sounds completely
infeasible!” 

“Emmett might have
some suggestions,” I said.

“And where are
these ‘Gates of Hell’ anyway?” Henry asked. “You expect us to travel to some
unknown destination, right above the entrance to Hell?”

“I have no idea,”
I said helplessly. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Okay, so we know
there’s a lot to work out to make this happen,” Lucas conceded. “But, Henry,
you’re
willing
to do it?”

“Of course I am,”
he replied. “You know, something I remember before being bitten. One of those
goons called me a warlock.” Henry looked at Lucas. “Is that what I am?”

Lucas was
obviously trying to decide how to answer. “You are,” I said before he could
speak. What was the purpose of keeping that from Henry? He deserved to know his
fate, his
destiny
.

Henry let out a
low whistle. “That’s nuts,” he said. “How long have you known?”

“I realized it
while you were fighting for your life,” I lied. “Remember, I’ve had a
very
long
day and night to think about everything.”

“But I’m human,
right? I just have this…talent?” Henry questioned.

Lucas nodded.

Henry stood up. “I
need to go home. Lucas said you texted my mom, but they’re bound to start
worrying if I don’t get back soon. I can drop you off at your house, unless you
want to stay
here
.” Henry was testing me, trying to determine just how
close I was to Lucas.

“That would be
great if you could take me home,” I replied. “And it will save you a trip,” I
said to Lucas.

 “Do you want
me to drive?” I offered when we got to his car.

“You got your
license while I was knocked out?” Henry asked in surprise.

“Of course not,
silly! I did have a driving lesson and then borrow my mom’s car though.” I
laughed. “It was without her permission, so now my parents are tracking my
every move.”

“Where in the
world did you go!” Henry exclaimed.

“To Lucas’ place,”
I answered. “I was a complete wreck, and as soon as Lucas told me you were
going to recover I just had to see you.”

Henry smiled. “I
saw you standing over me, but I thought it was a dream.”

“I guess Lucas is
going to set up another meeting with Magnus,” I said nervously. “Are you going
to research the spell?”

“Yeah, Lucas
explained that we can talk to each other on these special phones. He gave me
one this morning. I’ll call Emmett. I really don’t even know where to start.
You realize how crazy this is, right?”

I didn’t answer.
“I’m just so glad you’re alive,” I whispered, staring out the window. But what
would happen if the plan went wrong? Lucas said it – Henry was mortal. I
didn’t feel right about him having any part of this. But what choice did we
have?